Ah. Well, no disrespect to Steve, but I had not heard of him before someone emailed that yt vid to me. It's obvious he had his schtick going before the vid went viral. He certainly didn't begin performing those moves without a great deal of practice. It might be argued millions of people now know of him without knowing his actual name. He's 'that crazy drummer." That's the phenomenon of youtube.

Just by chance I happened to meet Steve at NAMM last January.
It appears he quite realizes and embraces his situation. I found him very humble, and extremely funny. I told him about the "no gold jackets" picture that has been floating around this forum, and he found it hilarious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drumsinhisheart

I may be wrong but I tend to think youtube and other such sites yet to come will be the main source of concert promotion and viewing in the future. Musicians in the flesh may fade away as technology increases. Wall size televisions becoming common. What are now considered top of the line sound systems ending up in the homes of every average person ... slide your debit card in a personal tracker, and watch the concert from the comfort of your home in a environment that will seem better than being there. Special sound stages developed for the purpose. Playing to millions rather than thousands. It's done now to a degree, but things like youtube will make it happen and become as common as people heading out to the local club to catch a band.

Yes, the technology already exists, it's just not common place yet.
With google glasses and such emerging technologies, one day very soon, you won't have to drive to the venue to see a band perform, just put on your gear, pay the fee, and you'll get the full concert experience from home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek Roddy

+1

Bermuda, Your playing has been in more listens ears (listeners....not drummers) than anybody participating on this forum put together....

Referring to some of Emmaticus' posts on page 4 of the thread. One of the reactions questioned that user as a shill with an actual degree of seriousness. A bit ridiculous no?

In general: While I'm not a huge fan of Caseys drumming style of overplaying in many of his videos or his choice of songs, I'll give him his dues as a good drummer and admire his incessant work rate towards his promotion as a musician.

Honestly, this is silly. You may not enjoy his videos, I don't, but many people do. The fact that he's famous is what ticks people off. He's absolutely right, he made this success himself. Ask almost any successful career musician, the key to fame/success is not groove, chops, originality, or any other shit that people stress, but self promotion and advertisement. Casey Cooper is a mediocre musician that made it big, there's been hundreds of them. You all sound like jealous old farts. ;)

Honestly, this is silly. You may not enjoy his videos, I don't, but many people do. The fact that he's famous is what ticks people off. He's absolutely right, he made this success himself. Ask almost any successful career musician, the key to fame/success is not groove, chops, originality, or any other shit that people stress, but self promotion and advertisement. Casey Cooper is a mediocre musician that made it big, there's been hundreds of them. You all sound like jealous old farts. ;)

Who you calling 'old'? ;)

Maybe it's where I live and work, but out here in L.A., nobody's told me about Casey Cooper or even heard of him. Everyone here is too busy telling me how great they are ;)

Ask almost any successful career musician, the key to fame/success is not groove, chops, originality, or any other shit that people stress, but self promotion and advertisement.

this statement is generally untrue, especially in music. i'm curious, who are your examples? justin bieber?
i'd agree some very mediocre actors or musicians have got famous, but they are a minority. most have chops.

Hey everyone,
I just finished publishing a video about Casey Cooper (COOP3RDRUMM3R on Youtube). I was curious what you all thought about him, his drumming technique and style.

I personally love listening to his covers, but I'm curious what you all think.

Did the members here not give accurate descriptions of his playing?

I saw many things mentioned about Caseys drumming that are not "opinion" or "accusations"....but, fact.

I mean, If I posted on here and asked "opinions" about my playing....I would want the community to be honest.
And with that honesty, I would listen to what these experienced players are saying because sometimes....you're not aware of issues until someone else points them out.

Do I get defensive and rattle off a bunch of things that I'm doing that has NOTHING to do with my playing? Or, do I listen and try to correct the things other "experienced" players are seeing that maybe I'm not?

Nobody is immune to flaws....not me, not Vinnie, not Buddy and certainly not Casey.

The advice ( and criticism) I receive about my own playing from drummers around the world ( and this very forum) has done wonders for my playing...and, that ads up to much more than a few pennies from "million of views". (which I've had on several videos)

this statement is generally untrue, especially in music. i'm curious, who are your examples? justin bieber?
i'd agree some very mediocre actors or musicians have got famous, but they are a minority. most have chops.

I agree with you there!

However, a chilling thought had run through my mind and I hope it can't possibly come true: imagine back in the day when it was so hard to become a working musician because you had to go to school, to network with other players in school, and everyone from school helped one another to get gigs. In this day and age when it's literally taught that we take talent for granted and marketing is the way - there will eventually come a time when that generation of musician, who may have neglected his talent but knows how to market, will be in the majority, doing the hiring. Some would argue this is happening already (and has been happening), but there's still this glimmer of hope that master musicians are still being employed when you see the sheer musical muscle displayed at your basic film scoring session in L.A.

I know it seems like a very far cry from the 'YouTube cover world', but there are people who actually have careers as musicians that no one ever knows about, and those are people who produce all that wonderful in-tune music you hear on tv, in the movies, for the stage shows, or the professional tours that hire local musicians when they get to a big town. Some of them (like me) you won't ever see and can't advertise that I have this great gig! So the scary talented people are out there, and if you want a career that lasts for years with a close to six-digit income, then those are the people I would want to emulate and hopefully become. It's not about getting famous, it's about the love of music and doing it right and making a living at it for years. I know people who do this music thing so well they own their houses and have put their kids through college on it and are setting up their retirement plans. These people are definitely not flash in the pans, and they're so busy, you never see them on YouTube.

A good example of who you cite are the many sessions musicians. All the super talented but unseen folks whose names appear only in credits. Sadly, they too may slowly be getting replaced by sampled sounds and midi.

I think that is on-topic in this case, given that we know most of the hype is through third-party compensation.

Emma made it sound like she was being accused of being compensated, and I don't see any comments that implied or would cause her to infer that. As for believing hype, that's another topic.

The purpose of this thread was to find out if the members thought as much of Casey as the OP does, and most of the answers - pro and con - have been delivered cogently based on watching and listening to the videos.

Emma made it sound like she was being accused of being compensated, and I don't see any comments that implied or would cause her to infer that. As for believing hype, that's another topic.

The purpose of this thread was to find out if the members thought as much of Casey as the OP does, and most of the answers - pro and con - have been delivered cogently based on watching and listening to the videos.

Bermuda

It sounded more like posing a hypothetical question to me, but whatever. ;) Back to watching Meg White videos for me!

I saw many things mentioned about Caseys drumming that are not "opinion" or "accusations"....but, fact.

I mean, If I posted on here and asked "opinions" about my playing....I would want the community to be honest.
And with that honesty, I would listen to what these experienced players are saying because sometimes....you're not aware of issues until someone else points them out.
D

Those opinions or "critique" is what new drummers(started taking lessons in July) like myself take weekly lessons for-to help keep us focused and to point out when I am making errors and give me direction of what I need to work on. If I was to attempt to learn to play the drums just by watching youtube videos, I would have either given up on the drums and sold the kit or still trying to get a basic beat down because my hands and feet don't want to work together. And I would not want my drum teacher to sugarcoat what mistakes I am making.

Quote:

Originally Posted by opentune

Curse you BO 3D3R DRUMM3R!

A good example of who you cite are the many sessions musicians. All the super talented but unseen folks whose names appear only in credits. Sadly, they too may slowly be getting replaced by sampled sounds and midi.

I really hope drummers are not truly getting replaced with sampled sounds and midi because there is nothing like having the pulse of the drums being played live.

First, I personally have no interest in youtube covers, and it's been a while (when this thread
first came around) since I checked out some of the cooperdrummer videos. So I believe
I'm not biased at all in either way.

As most have said too, I was impressed by the mature, eloquent and professional way
Casey chimed in "his" thread.

Then, as the thread went on, surprisingly almost all responses stayed or even got more
negative, almost all people seem to try to put down what he does. Honestly I don't really
get why. I really don't care about his thing, so it doesn't bother me at all. Also he as a person
doesn't bother me at all either, because he seems to be a friendly, hard working guy who
knows what he wants, knows what he can do (and what he can't), and has success. Many
older musicians don't seem to get that nowadays a "career" in youtube is a career, too, as
though it doesn't fit the traditional picture of career-making anymore.

As for Casey, I for myself am equally impressed with ALL of his replies - I mean COME ON,
even criticize him for replying numerous times is ridiculous, isn't it? He never got
personal or cheap, or insulting. Granted, noone did I think, but it's obvious that he or
what he does gets attacked from all around. We all know many forum members who just
needed one guy that picked on them, and they got all upset, personally attacked, and thus
started to behave in a way the Mods could easily banned them (and did so rightly). It really
seems now that some guys - who I otherwise know as positive, friendly, helping members -
can't back off and kind of wait for Casey to turn around, for things to get uglier, and for the
ban hammer to strike.

Again, I'm not "for" or "against" one or the other, I have nothing whatsoever against Casey
and what he does, just no interest. And I have nothing against the discussion, as I think some
points are very valid, and though hard, very true. But I do think this thread got very one-sided,
and I think people have to let it go. To me it really looks that now everybody'strying to find new reasons and thoughts to hold against him. If I got criticized that much, I'd
want to defend myself, too. Who wouldn't?

Just to give it another perspective... Maybe it's one for the unpopular opinion thread...!?

I really hope drummers are not truly getting replaced with sampled sounds and midi because there is nothing like having the pulse of the drums being played live.

Well, in reality, this was a real threat back in the 80s when MIDI hit and drum machines became viable alternatives to having a human play actual drums. Thanks to the grunge movement, I think we've cured ourselves of "over-technology". But, technology is still used today, but more in conjunction with real instruments. I think it's become painfully apparent when electric drums are being used these days (no matter how good they get) - but it's still the name of the game that it's expensive to record a real drummer when you don't really have a budget to begin with!

I really liked how Stewart Copeland back in the days of The Police utilized drum machines - they would let the drum machine play through the song and then he would come in later to overdub real drums. Just like the adults ;)

I saw many things mentioned about Caseys drumming that are not "opinion" or "accusations"....but, fact.

I mean, If I posted on here and asked "opinions" about my playing....I would want the community to be honest.
And with that honesty, I would listen to what these experienced players are saying because sometimes....you're not aware of issues until someone else points them out.

Do I get defensive and rattle off a bunch of things that I'm doing that has NOTHING to do with my playing? Or, do I listen and try to correct the things other "experienced" players are seeing that maybe I'm not?

Nobody is immune to flaws....not me, not Vinnie, not Buddy and certainly not Casey.

The advice ( and criticism) I receive about my own playing from drummers around the world ( and this very forum) has done wonders for my playing...and, that ads up to much more than a few pennies from "million of views". (which I've had on several videos)

D

Hey Derek,

It's an honor to have you here on this thread. I appreciate your logical and thought out response and enjoy your awesome playing.
I'd like to make sure you understand that I am in no way being defensive about the issues with my playing. I respect the input from those who know more than I do and I appreciate an outsider's critique on the playing, especially from someone as skilled and knowledgeable as yourself. The only problems I have with were this thread and the things I got defensive about in order to clear them up were the attacks and critique of things OTHER than the playing. Members of this forum trying to bend my words in order to make it look or sound as if I don't care about getting better and that I'm some arrogant kid who thinks he's better than everyone because people like my videos. That is all I care about in terms of image. I may not be the most technically talented player on the planet (and as Bermuda eloquently stated about "amazing drummers," I too am quick to remind people in my videos (where I speak) and in person that I am nowhere near the "amazing" that those names are. BUT I also recognize that everyone has their own definition and whether we feel we are amazing ourselves, or not, people will see "amazing" in different lights in conjunction with their own ideas of the word and what they like about our playing/personality/work ethic/etc etc etc), but one thing I know that I am is in a position where people (mostly young and impressionable kids) look up to me for advice and inspiration and the LAST thing I want is for them to read someone skewing my words in a way that seems to promote anything other than hard work, practice, and an attitude that wants to get better, loves to play and loves to help others and be a positive addition to the world. That is the only reason I continued to "defend" those aspects of what I do in an attempt to insure those that read this thread do not get the wrong ideas that multiple members were attempting to create.

Anyway, thanks again for chiming in. It's awesome to see guys like yourself taking the time to add to the conversation.

Cooper

Last edited by COOP3RDRUMM3R; 03-31-2014 at 11:23 PM.
Reason: Messed up the quote.

Hey I'm not an experience drummer, play as a hobby, but has always had a passion for the drums, young man you rock those drums! I can say at 53 you have share some very good information on the tube. KEEP IT UP and I hope you are playing for or with artist or groups. To me you are that good.

I don't know how I managed to stumble on this thread, but I found it pretty amusing. The merits of Youtube careers aside, here's how I would answer the original question:

Technique: Needs to loosen up. It gives me muscle pains just watching him play. He can get away with it while he's young, but his awkward technique is going to catch up to him. I would be shocked if he didn't develop carpal tunnel or tennis elbow down the road playing the way he does.

Style: Two things immediately jumped out at me. First, I don't hear any dynamics. Everything is turned up to 10. The second thing I noticed was from his video playing a Christmas song with a full band. The drumming was extremely distracting. It was clear that it was more important to "stand out" and get noticed than to make the band sound good. Rather than playing with the band (and complimenting the song), he was playing on top of the band. It was like listening to a Dream Theater drum track mixed into a Rolling Stones song.

Is he a good drummer? Sure. With technique improvements and more musicality, he could be a great drummer.

I will try and be completely objective. I think in most of his songs he overplays which you can get away with on Basket Case by Green Day, a song I used to play live myself, but on songs like Still into you by Paramore it just does not work and one should take a less is more approach. Back in Black as a song works so well as the drumming is simple and it just gives the song more space. He, Casey, puts some interesting fills in but some which would be more at home in the Lita Ford song Run with the Money. A little nod to some great fills by Randy Castillo there.

I would say listen hard to the original pick out what the actual drummer is playing and then change if you wish because on the Bonham song Fool in the Rain the bass drum is not exactly in the right place and there is a reason Bonham plays it like that and it is because it works. Bonham rarely plays 1 and 3 so listen out for the e and and would be my advice on that one.

Therefore pay respect to the original and take it from there. Sometimes I feel that respect has not been given but then by nature I am more nerdy when it comes to picking out drum parts and like to understand exactly what is happening in the original song so maybe I am too far the other way but when I play Good Times Bad Times I want to pay respect to Bonham by at least attempting his parts even if I do not have the feel.

Keep up the drumming but learn when to show restraint. I picked that tip from Randy Castillo and it just cemented in my head what Cozy Powell said when making Slide it in with Whitesnake. Listen to what other drummers say as they are often worth listening to :)